


Film Studies 101

by ImJustHereToWriteIGuess, SleepyDreamer19



Category: Marble Hornets
Genre: Angst, Canon Divergence, College AU, Disaster Gays, Gen, Jam, M/M, Slow Burn, coffee shop AU, pre canon au, sarah is a funky lesbian, school au, seth is a party boy, sorority parties are fun, wholesome alex
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-09-02
Updated: 2019-11-21
Packaged: 2020-10-05 08:28:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 8,017
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20485880
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ImJustHereToWriteIGuess/pseuds/ImJustHereToWriteIGuess, https://archiveofourown.org/users/SleepyDreamer19/pseuds/SleepyDreamer19
Summary: Pre Marble Hornets college au where everything is only fine for a little while. It's really gay and there's lots of parties.





	1. Sorority Boys

“Alex, I really don’t want to go to a sorority party.”

“Aw come on dude! There’s gonna be pussy!” 

“Oh yes.. I’m so convinced now thank you showing me the truly important things in life.” Jay sarcastically huffed at his roommate, leaning against the couch and pulling his hat down just enough for it to cover his eyes. He would be less likely to give in to Alex’s pleas if he couldn’t see him… Or at least he was trying to convince himself that was the case.

The two boys have known each other for years, and were now college roommates as they suffered through their junior year. And as normal, Alex wanted to drag Jay to a party and not do anything responsible like study or work on cleaning the pile of dishes in the sink. Not like Jay was much better about it but at least if he stayed home he’d get bored enough to eventually do something productive. Alex on the other hand? Was trying to use college as an excuse to party any chance he could. 

“Jay. You spend too much time in this apartment.”

“Well maybe I like it here.” 

“Come on Jay! You know I’m not going without you… And besides there’s gonna be free booze!” He lightly poked at the boys sides. He was persistent, his playful energy similar to one of a child’s. A needy, pushy child. 

“We can get free booze anytime we want… Seth lives down the hall.” Jay sighed as he slapped his hands away. 

Alex paused like he was running out of ideas, but after a much needed moment of silence Jay’s peace was disrupted by an attempt to pull him off of the couch. 

***

After what seemed like hours of begging and pleading, Jay finally agreed to at least make an appearance at the party. But he still had to be pulled from the car to the front steps of the house. Alex proudly knocked on the door with the hand that wasn’t keeping Jay from running back to the car and lightly swayed to the muffled sounds of shitty pop music. He just watched him with disdain as he tried to get Alex to loosen the grip on his arm. He wasn’t going to run but.. His arm was starting to hurt. Thankfully moments later the door swung open to reveal the three beautiful sorority girls these film major dumbasses somehow managed to be friends with. 

“Wow what a surprise! You’re late!” 

“Sorry Sarah.. it’s because Jay here was a little nervous about all of your hot friends.” Alex gave a big smile as he swung Jay into the room. 

And boy was Alex right. Girls everywhere. Half naked, running around with a red solo cup and dancing on every visible surface. The astonished four eyed loser quickly wandered into the crowd first with the sweet blonde girl who was entirely out of his league not far behind him. The remaining girls just laughed as Jay looked into the crowd. His expression was a mixture of nervous and uninterested. Basically, he was a disaster bi that was afraid to act on anything so he… didn’t. 

“Did you not wanna come to our party?” Jessica pouted, giving Jay a hug. 

“No it’s not that…”

“He’s shyyyy!!” Sarah added in. He didn’t really correct her because she wasn’t entirely wrong. 

“Aw come on! Go mingle! It’s not going to kill you.” Jessica giggled before shoving him further into the unnecessarily large sorority house. He took a look around but it was hard to take in the view of the house because there were so many girls. With a little sigh he immediately went over to grab a beer before claiming the free spot on the couch in the corner. It was too loud to think, everyone he knew was already out of sight, just like earlier today he sunk into the couch and just tried to ignore everything when a voice cut through all of the other noise in the room

“This seat taken?” It wasn’t the voice of a sorority girl, but one of an equally awkward boy that looked desperate to escape the crowd. Jay shook his head and patted the couch as he processed the boy in the flannel who was now sitting next to him. Of all people. 

“You’re Tim, right? Brian’s roommate?” Jay looked to the boy as he clutched his beer, keeping his eyes drawn away from everyone in the room and still wearing his pale yellow coat even though the air in the house was suffocating. They’ve met a few times in passing, and they even had a class together but they’ve never really communicated much besides introductions and asking when the next assignment was due. Tim glanced to Jay, noticing he was fully focused on him so then he would have a distraction from whatever else was going on around them. And it.. Sure seemed to be working. 

“Ah… yeah. Jay? Alex’s roommate?” Tim said after a moment or so, taking a sip of his beer. 

“Yeah.. That’s me.” Jay gave a small chuckle. “And ironically, Alex is the asshole who dragged me here in the first place.”

“Yeah… Same with Brian. Apparently I spend too much time in the apartment.” He scoffed but followed it up with a grin, which in return made Jay grin as well. 

“That sounds all too familiar.”

Tim continued to grin at the boy as he took a swig of his beer. There was an awkward silence for a few moments as they both tried to find something to talk about. Before they could even open their mouths, four eyes emerge with a red solo cup in his hands.

“Hey ladies!” He bounced over, his eyes widening a bit as he saw his best friend talking to a real boy! “Jay, sweet darling can I talk to you?”

Jay’s face turned a bit red as Tim couldn’t help but chuckle. He didn’t know Alex very well, but he knew him well enough to know that Alex was the biggest dumbass he had ever met. So he wasn’t surprised by his strange nicknames.

“Right now?” Jay looked between the two for a moment, tightening his grip on his beer. Alex just pulled him up with his free hand and drug him towards the bathroom like two high school girls.

“Save his seat, I’ll have him back for you soon Tim!”

They were already out of sight so Jay didn’t get the chance to see Tim’s awkward little wave as he adjusted his position to make sure to save Jay’s seat. In the meantime, Alex was pulling the boy along through the crowd of dangerously attractive women just to lock the two of them in a bathroom. 

“What was thaaat?” Alex playfully poked at his chest, slowly backing Jay into a corner. 

“What was what? We were just talking. The conversation didn’t even go on that long thanks to you.”

“Oh come on by the time I got there it was barely a conversation. Anyways, do you love him?”

“Love him? I barely know him!” He started towards the door. 

“We can fix that!” He ran to beat Jay to the door, spreading out against it to block him from getting through. “I can make you love him! Oh even better I can ask him to be in the movie and you guys will have no choice but to spend all your time together!”

“If you ever finish writing it!” 

“Well maybe if I had a better script supervisor that wouldn’t be a problem.”

Jay gasped in fake offense. “I am an excellent supervisor, you are just a shitty writer.” 

Alex backed away from the door ever so slightly to cross his arms and glare at the boy. “You know.. That one hurt a little bit.”

“Oh your poor ego.. Now can we just get out of this bathroom before people think we’re fucking?”

Alex relaxed his arms and looked to Jay as he slowly put his hand on the door handle. “ You should be so lucky.. It’s a blessing to have people think you’re fucking me.” He winked as he led Jay out of the bathroom, and when Alex dispersed into the crowd the boy went right back to that stupid loveseat in the corner.


	2. Smoking Is Bad For You Kids.

Tim was still sitting there, looking somehow even more uncomfortable than before with nobody to talk to. Jay moved to sit next to him and a sort of relief hit Tim’s eyes when he noticed him returning. Jay fully intended on sitting with the man in complete, companionable silence, but he caught Alex’s eyes from across the room and realized that it wasn’t going to be an option. Taking control over the situation before Alex decided he needed help again, Jay turned towards Tim.

“So uh… are you enjoying the party?” He asked his seat-mate, cringing at his own awkwardness compared to Tim’s cool and casual demeanor.

“Yeah I guess. It’s cool but it’s not my thing.” Tim replied.

“Me neither. Don’t get me wrong, beer and pretty girls is great and all but I’d much rather curl up in bed and pretend the world isn’t real.” Tim chuckled at that a bit, his cheeks adopting a red hue.

“Yeah I’m just not really a girl kinda guy.”

“Oh… OH! Okay, that’s cool. Me too. I mean. I like girls but guys are pretty cool too… you know?”

“Uhhh yeah. I do.” Tim said. And just like that, the conversation dropped again. Jay started tapping his fingers to dispel his nervous energy when Tim said he was gonna step out. As soon as Tim was out of sight, Alex dropped into the empty seat with arms crossed and a powerful frown.

“Okay, what do you want now?” Jay asked.

“Nothing I’m just observing. It’s amazing seeing the native awkward Jay in its natural habitat as it hunts for a mate.”

“I’m not looking for a mate I’m just talking to a guy.”

“A cute guy.”

“Well if you think he’s so cute maybe you should be talking to him.” Alex put a hand on his chest, clutching his metaphorical pearls at the suggestion.

“Absolutely not! I’m a wingman through and through which means I must remain celibate during your search for love!” Jay gave a dubious glance to the half-naked girl who’d been all over Alex all night.

“Did you tell her about your quest for celibacy?”

“Hey I can look, I just can’t touch.” Alex said as Jay rolled his eyes, pretty sure that four eyes had been touching all night.

“Anyway, what did you want?”

“Just to tell you how disappointed I am in you. Feel free to leave whenever you want, I’ll be here being the coolest guy in the world and telling everyone how lame you are.” Alex said, sauntering back into the crowd

“You do that.” Jay said to his back, proceeding to stand up, gathering his things and heading for the door. He gave a wave to Sarah and Jessica on the way out, they ‘boo’d’ and narrowly dodged a pillow thrown at him as he ran out the door.

“Oh are you leaving?” Said a voice to his left. Tim was there, standing just outside the door with a cigarette on his lips.

“Yeah, finally got the okay from Alex.”

“That’s cool I was thinking about bailing too. I’ll get hell from Brian but I think I can manage. You’re in our building right?” He asked.

“Yeah, at north campus?” Jay replied.

“Yep that’s us. Mind if I walk with you?” Tim asked, dropping what was left of his cigarette and stepping on it.

“No that’s cool. Not gonna tell Brian you’re heading out?”

“Nah, I wanna see how long it takes for him to realize I’m gone.” Tim said, starting to walk away from the party, the noise slowly fading away.

“Fair enough.” Jay said, following behind him and watching as Tim pulled out another cigarette and lighting it.

“So… What’s your major?” Jay asked.

“I do music, what about you?”

“Me and Alex are both film majors.”

“Oh that’s cool. Don’t we have a class together or something?” Tim asked.

“Yeah, I think we have math together. Professor Jones, right? I skipped it freshman year and I’m paying for it now.” Jay said with a frown.

“Me too. Don’t know about you but I suck at it.” Jay replied.

“Yeah me too.”

“So what else do you do?” Tim asked

“Well me and Alex are working on a movie. I’m the script supervisor!” Jay exclaimed proudly. Tim chuckled.

“Yeah I bet you’re good at it. You’ll have to let me watch it when it’s done.” Tim said as they approached the building. 

“Haha yeah I will! What about you? What do you like to do?”

“Well I write a little bit of music here and there but nothing special.” Tim said, snuffing out his cigarette as they stepped inside the building.

“Nah I don’t believe that.” Jay replied.

“Well believe it or not that’s what it is. Anyway, this is my room so I guess I’ll head in.”

“Oh right yeah. Well, I’ll see you in math class right?”

“Yeah totally.” Tim said with a smile, going into his room. Jay stood there for a moment before heading to his own room just down the hall. He got into his bed without bothering to change his clothes and uttered one word before falling asleep.

“Fuck.”


	3. The Apartment At The End Of The Hall.

Peace was eventually restored as all the boys returned to their respective apartments. Brian and Alex were still on cloud 9 from their night filled with girls and booze while Tim and Jay were processing everything that happened on their end of the sorority house. They met a boy, someone who seemed nice and easy to talk to. A breath of fresh air compared to their roommates. They both hoped that they’d be able to talk and maybe get to know the other better but wasn’t necessarily looking for something to come of it. 

After plenty of thought on the matter, they both fell asleep feeling more at ease... But that feeling didn’t last long. 

As they woke up the next morning, they stumbled into two similar scenes. Their hungover, nosey roommates ready to interrogate them.

Tim got to listen to Brian ramble about how he thought he “Lost Tim to the sorority.” Because he was too drunk to realize he probably ended up just leaving on his own.. Just to be told by the dorky film student down the hall that he went home with the OTHER dorky film student down the hall and proceeded to ask him tons of very intruding questions that he hoped to forget over the course of the day.

Jay on the other hand just heard a lot of the same shit he already did but ten times worse.

“Oh, so you walked home with him! Did you kiss him? Did you fuck him? Do you love him?? Are you going to marry him? Do I get to be your best man!?”

“No, NO, no, no... And no.” Jay groaned, resting his head on the table.

“Hey, that last no better be a joke.” Alex gave an offended gasp. They made a deal in high school that if and when they got married they would be each other's best man. They both took it very seriously. 

“Yes, of course, it’s a joke, Alex. We pinky promised that shit.” He looked up at him. “Can we just.. Stop with the Tim talk for now and have an actual conversation? Also, how are you this energetic aren’t you hungover?”

“This is a lot more important than hating my current state of existence Jay.. But I guess we can stop with the questions for now.”

“Thank you.” He sighed. “Anyways, how was the rest of the party?”

“After you left it was great! This girl and I totally flirted the entire night.” He had a big smile on his face as he sipped at his coffee, reminiscing on the night before.

“Oh really, who was she?” Jay tilted his head curiously, waiting to see if Alex actually remembered this girl.

“She was um... Blonde and.. Pretty?”

“Does Miss ‘Blonde and Pretty’ have a name?”

“I mean... Everyone has a name, Jay.”

Jay nodded with a small sigh as he stood up, starting to collect his things for class. “Well, I hope you and this mystery girl live a happy life together. If you’re lucky you’ll remember her name!”

“Oh we will, just you wait!”

Jay waved, choosing to end this conversation as he shut the door behind him to endure another round of classes for the day. 

***

Class droned on and on for what felt like hours. Unfortunately, this was the class he had with no one he knew but thankfully it was his only class today since the other one was canceled at the last minute. So Jay packed up his things in silence as he wandered towards the door. The professor gave him a wave and a ‘good job today’ as he did to every student. He acknowledged him with a nod as he exited the room and walked down the hallway. 

It was a little too peaceful as he walked back to his apartment. No texts from Alex, no spotting any of his friends in the hall. Just him and his thoughts. This was weird, it was only calm like this when 

A) Something was wrong or B) Alex was up to something. 

Picking up the pace a little as he cut through the crowds of kids he eventually made it back to his apartment. The nice and neat little apartment he shared with Alex at the end of the hall. Where everything was fine. And everything would be fine.

Jay took a deep breath as he opened the door and as he expected, Alex was up to something. 

There he was, the dorky four-eyed loser sitting at the kitchen table next to none other than Brian and Tim. 

“That sounds really cool, Alex. We’d love to be apart of it!” Brian flashed his confident and cool smile at Alex, but quickly turned to Jay standing in the doorway. “Oh hey Jay, good to see you again.”

“Jay! What a surprise you’re home early.” Alex added on with a satisfied smirk on his face. Tim just gave a little wave, a mix of flustered and relief to see his couch friend. 

“Ah... Hey. Yeah my second class was canceled.” He dropped his bag at the door, slowly wandering towards them. “What are you guys up to?”

“We actually should be leaving soon but Alex wanted to ask us to be apart of the movie he’s working on.” Tim said as he awkwardly fidgeted with his carton of cigarettes. “You’re the script supervisor right, Jay?”

Alex and Brian turned their attention to Jay as Tim addressed him, their eyes practically sparkling as they awaited his answer.

“Yup that’s me..”

“Oh well. Cool. It’ll be good to see you around more outside of math and parties.” Tim nodded, giving a small grin before turning back to Brian. He noticed the excitement in his best friends eyes, but he was too tired from their earlier interactions to ask why he had that look on his face. Fortunately Brian snapped out of his daze a few seconds later.

“Well we better go boys! But it was great to chat with you both. Keep us updated on the movie Alex.” Brian jumped up from his seat and Tim slowly followed his lead, finishing off the glass of water in front of him before they both made their way towards the door. 

“Bye!” Alex waved proudly as Jay moved out of the way, giving them both a small wave and goodbye as they started back to their apartment.

As soon as the door closed he snapped his head towards Alex’s direction. 

“Alex fucking Kralie, you got some explaining to do.”


	4. Slip 'n slide into those DM's

“So you’re putting them in the movie.”

“Yup.”

“So you can get me and Tim together.”

“Yeah.”

“Because we talked once for like two minutes?”

“Sounds pretty solid to me.”

“Alex four-eyed fucking Kralie.”

“That’s my name, don’t wear it out.”

Jay put his head in his hands and sat on the nearest barstool, composing himself, knowing that any confrontation with his matchmaking friend was sure to be anxiety-inducing.

“You realize how stupid this is.” Jay said, his words muffled.

“What I realize, is that you’re going to die sad and alone without a little bit of help.” Alex replied condescendingly.

“Well I don’t need your help.” 

“Too late. I’ve already practically gotten you into his pants.” Said Alex, casually picking dirt out of his nails.

“What, working on the movie? You think that’s gonna get us together or something?” Jay asked with a raised brow.

“Uhhhh. Yeah. Just the movie. That’s all I did.” Suddenly, Jay is shocked out of his misery by a text from an unknown number.

Unknown: Hey, is this Jay?

Jay looked up at Alex to see him frozen like a deer in the headlights. In an instant, Alex tried to bolt for the door and Jay tackled him before he could make it. The two boys writhe on the ground for a moment before pausing, realizing that neither of them wanted to be in that position with each other, and sitting up. 

“You gave him my fucking number?” Jay exclaimed.

“Only a little bit!” Alex replied, flipping onto his stomach to reach for his lost glasses under the refrigerator.

“How do you give someone someone's number a little bit?”

“By giving them the number,” Alex said, scooting slightly farther from Jay, dusty glasses in hand. “but with good intentions.”

Jay stood back up, adjusted his rumpled clothing, and sauntered over to his phone, holding it in his slightly shaking hands and staring at the message. He searched for some kind of alternate meaning to the message but it was too straight forward to discern.

“So, you gonna text him?” Alex asked, having turned onto his stomach, kicking his legs into the air lovestruck teenage girl style.

“I dunno,” Jay murmured, unconsciously nibbling his nails. “Would that be weird? Am I texting back too quickly?”

“So you ARE in love with him!”

“I’m not in love with him! I barely know him! I just don’t want to seem weird.” Jay said, muttering the last bit.

“Oh God just text him before I take your phone and text him myself!”

“Fine, fine.” Jay said, quickly registering Tim’s contact info on his phone.

Jay: yeah is this Tim :)

Jay threw the phone onto his bed and stalked away into the kitchen. He grabbed a beer and turned around to see Alex leaning against the wall, arms crossed with a pout adorning his thin face.

“So did you send him nudes?” He asked.

“Absolutely not.” Jay replied, stepping past him.

“Why not? You’ve got nothing to be ashamed of! Or do you?” Alex said, reaching for Jay’s pants before Jay abruptly stepped back.

“I’m not going to send unsolicited nudes to a near-stranger!” Jay near-screamed with a new shade of red on his face.

“What about solicited nudes?” Jay scoffed at the suggestion.

“Yeah I doubt I’ll have to worry about solicited nudes. Especially from him.”

“Especially? So he’s special?” At this, Jay finally grew tired of Alex and, grabbing his phone and a jacket and heading out. Halfway down the hallway, he heard a distant call of ‘Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do.’

Jay flipped the bird over the shoulder in response, then turned towards the open court between the dorms and one of the school administration buildings. He found a bench to sit on and checked his phone to see another text.

Tim: Yeah I probably should have mentioned that, Alex gave me your number.

Jay: ya lol he told me

Jay: so wassup

Tim: Just wondering if you could maybe help me with the homework? I’m stuck on 7.

Jay flushed a bit. He’d already finished the homework already and knew that particular question had had him stumped too.

Jay: ya I can help u

Tim: Cool. Can you come over this week or something?

Jay nearly screamed. He glanced around to see if anyone was watching, then grinned widely at the screen.

Jay: does tomorrow work

Tim: Totally! How about 5?

Jay: sounds good ill see you then :)


	5. 1 + 2 = me + you

The rest of the night dragged on with Alex getting a mouthful from Jay until they eventually passed out on the couch during a late night marathon of How I Met Your Mother. And by the time morning rolled around, Alex was already making Jay panic about his study session. 

“So what are you wearing to your study date?” Alex leaned his head on his hands, staring at Jay who was just minding his own business on the other side of the table as he ate his cereal.

“Um.. what I always wear? And it’s not a date I’m just helping him with homework.” 

“Jay. Sweet naive Jay.. it’s a date. And you’re going to dress nice for your boyfriend.”

“I thought we agreed. No more calling him my boyfriend!” He kicked from underneath the table at about half strength but while giving him a look of ‘Alex Kralie I will break your fucking knee if you don’t cut it out.’ 

“Ow! Fine.” He whined, reaching down to shield his leg. “But seriously. What are you going to wear?”

“Clothes.” Jay sighed, putting his bowl in the sink before grabbing his bag. “Now I have class and then I’m going straight to Tim’s. So if you need me after 5 I’ll be down the hall.” 

“Wait! Do you have a condom?” 

And as soon as he said that, Jay was slamming the door. 

***

Classes passed by quickly and before he knew it Jay was already heading back to his building to study with Tim. He shouldn’t have been nervous, he wasn’t sure why he was nervous.. but he was nervous.

Right as 5 o’clock rolled around Jay was face to face with the door. But he didn’t want to be that guy that was exactly on time so he just stood there for a moment or so. 

As the clock hit 5:02 went to knock on the door, it quickly swung open. Revealing Brian at the door with a smile. “Oh.. hey Jay! Come in!” He grabbed him by the shirt and gently pulled him into the apartment. “You’re here to study with Tim right?”

“Uh.. yeah I am.” He gave an awkward smile. 

“Well great! Why don’t you sit down? He should be OUT ANY MINUTE!” He yelled to get Tim’s attention. In which you could hear the faint sounds of things clattering, followed by footsteps as the bedroom door swung open. 

Tim looked to Jay with an awkward wave, holding his textbook in his free hand as he looked between Brian who was standing there with a smug smile and Jay who was sitting at the kitchen table. “Hey.. sorry. Have you been here long?”

“No I just got here actually.”

“Good! Well..” he sat down next to him, opening up his textbook. “Shall we?” 

And before Jay could respond, he was being cut off by a dramatic gasp from Brian. 

“Timothy Wright! You are not even going to offer our guest a snack? Or something to drink? How are you going to repay him from going out of his way to help you study for the class you’re failing!?” 

“No no it’s fine! I don’t mind and I’m just down the hall!” Jay quickly added in, opening up his textbook as well. He looked back and forth between the two for a moment as they silently stared at each other. 

“Well I’ll leave you two to it! Let me know if you guys need anything!” Brian said after a moment, breaking the silence as he walked back to his room.

“I’m.. sorry about him.” Tim muttered, looking over to Jay.

“It’s fine really. Don’t worry about it.” He gave a small smile. “Now we should get to it, I promised I’d be back by 8 to watch How I Met Your Mother with Alex.” 

“How I Met Your Mother, huh? I’m more of a Big Bang Theory guy myself.” Tim chuckled. 

“It is a good show but you can’t beat Barney Stinson.” 

“..Well I guess that’s an argument we’ll have to revisit later.” Tim smirked, glancing over just enough to see Jay with his mouth hanging open like you did not just subtly diss my man but decided to leave it alone for now. “Anyways.. so problem 7!” Tim quickly turned his expression into an innocent smile, causing Jay to return the smile.

“Yeah.. problem 7.”

***

In the hour or so the two boys studied together, they only got a limited amount of things done. The rest of the time they just spent talking and joking about random shit. And occasionally they would even see Brian peeking in on them from the crack in his door. 

“Well thanks for all your help. I hope I’m getting you back in time for tv with Alex.” Tim said as he started to throw his things back in his bag. 

“Of course! I hope I was able to help.” He smiled, packing his things up as well. “And I think two hours should be enough time.”

“Well have fun with that.” He walked Jay to the door. “Maybe... I could join you guys in watching it one day? I wouldn’t want to intrude on anything though.”

“No you wouldn’t be intruding at all! I’ll clear it with Alex.” He said excitedly. 

“Really? Cool! Brian has night classes so I never really have anyone to hang out with.”

“Well we would be happy to have you.”

“Thanks.” Tim smiled. “How long have you two been together, by the way?”

And immediately Jay’s face turned bright red. “Together?”

“Oh fuck. You’re not... You’re not dating are you?”

“No no! That’d be like dating my brother!” He frantically waved his hands.

“Shit sorry I shouldn’t have assumed.” Tim gave an awkward chuckle, rubbing the back of his neck. 

“It’s okay. It hasn’t been the first time someone’s thought that. We’re just really good friends, we’ve known each other for years.”

“Well duly noted.” Tim nodded, trying to hide his embarrassment and definitely had plans to lock himself in his room once Jay left. 

“Yeah uh.. well I’ll see you later? Let me know if you need anymore math help.”

“I’ll definitely have to recruit you for more help.” He nodded and opened the door for him. 

“I’ll be looking forward to it.” Jay waved, walking out of the apartment and wandering a few feet down the hall to his apartment. 

He walked in, throwing his bag down and flopping on the couch. Alex wasn’t home so he could be in gay agony in peace for awhile. 

And just as expected he spent the next however long like that until he eventually peeled himself off the couch, getting the popcorn and the beers ready to sit back on the couch and wait for Alex to arrive in all of his dumb ass glory.

He watched the program before it for a few moments, trying to drown out the out of place noises coming from the hallway. Normally he would’ve been back by now but he pushed his worries aside until it eventually hit 8 o’clock and he immediately pulled out his phone. 

Jay: Were tf ru??” 

And almost on cue the door slammed open seconds later.

“Dude you’re late. I just messaged you.”

Alex was slightly out of breath, putting his hands on his knees but looking up at Jay with his normally smug smile. “Yeah I think there’s a change of plans for tonight, Jaybird.”

His brows immediately furrowed. Alex rarely called him ‘Jaybird’ It was his I’ve known you for over half of my life this is how I need you to know somethings wrong nickname. 

“What’s up?” 

“Get your shoes on we have to go somewhere.”

“But we have tv to watch-“

“Just trust me on this one okay?”

He stared at Alex for a moment, trying to decipher something but his expression stayed neutral. After a few seconds he slowly put his shoes on and walked over to Alex who was still standing in the doorway. He slung an arm over Jay’s shoulder, walking down the hallway, out of the building and to the car with him. He motioned Jay to sit in the passengers seat while Alex sat behind the wheel. In seconds they were backing out of the parking lot and driving down the road. 

Jay sat there awaiting answers but Alex just turned on the radio and hummed along like nothing was wrong. 

“Alex..” he turned the volume down. “Stop shitting me what’s going on?”

Alex looked surprised, like he totally forgot why he was doing this in the first place. And not like he was freaked out of the situation but it was apparent as Alex opened his mouth that he was attempting to keep Jay calm. 

“Oh yeah! Well the thing is Jaybird uh.. your boyfriend is in the hospital.”


	6. Oops all seizures

“Jay, I’m fine.”

“You’re literally in the hospital.”

“It’s normal I promise this happens all the time.”

“No, it’s very much NOT normal.”

“Jay-”

“And what the fuck do you mean this happens all the time?”

“Jay it’s just a seizure they’re no big deal.”

“You’re in the hospital!!”

“Ah, young love.” Alex said from behind his magazine. Tim and Jay both glared at him. After a moment of tense silence, Jay finally relaxed.

“Okay I’m sorry I was just worried.” He said.

“It’s fine,” Tim said. “I get that it’s scary if you’re not used to it.”

“Do you know why you have seizures?” Jay asked, sitting on the sterile hospital chair next to Alex.

“Don’t know. I’ve had them since I was a kid.”

“Don’t you have meds or something?” Jay asked when suddenly Brian burst into the room, arms full of vending machine chips and candy.

“He DOES have meds but SOMEONE forgot to refill his PRESCRIPTION.” Brian said, dumping the snacks on Tim’s bed.

“Thanks bro.” Alex said, putting house digest down to grab a bag of Lays. Jay stood again, hands on his hips.

“And why exactly didn’t you fill your prescription?” Jay asked, beginning to pace.

“Ya know. School. Stuff. I got busy.” Tim said, shrugging as much as he could from the hospital bed.

“Too busy for your own health?”

Tim blushed, shoving a Snickers in his mouth to avoid answering the question.

“So when are you getting out of here?” Brian asked.

“Whenever the Doc says I can. Should be soon.”

When the doctor eventually released the crew, they stood outside, snacking and, in Tim’s case, smoking. Jay and Brian only grumbled a little bit about how unhealthy it was. The silence was relatively calm and well needed after the stress of the day. But it only lasted so long when Alex piped up.

“You know what you need Tim? You need a party.”


	7. Take A Shot Everytime It's Gay.

As soon as the gang got home from the hospital, Tim and Jay were ordered to wait in the apartment while Brian and Alex “Went to take care of something.” 

They decided to go together to Alex and Jay’s apartment and just sat on the couch in awkward silence, Tim bouncing his leg a bit as he scrolled through his phone. Jay on the other hand just kind of stared into space but his thoughts were quickly interrupted.

“Sorry if that freaked you out. I figured Alex would’ve at least told you.”

Of course, Alex fucking already knew. “It’s fine really, I’m just glad you’re okay.” 

Tim nodded, leaning back into the couch a bit. “I mean they’re not super serious or anything, they’re just inconvenient.”

“So.. like what causes them? I know you’ve said you’d had them since you were a kid but what causes them in the moment? Is it like epilepsy or something?” Jay just nervous rambled.

“Fuck if I know. I could sneeze and it’d happen.” Tim gave an awkward chuckle, trying to lighten the mood. Jay decided to hold back for now on his ‘That’s not fucking normal, Tim.’ Lecture and instead just gave a small chuckle in return. Tim could tell it wasn’t entirely sincere and gave a confused expression. “Sorry.. bad joke?” 

“No, it’s fine..” Jay waved it off for now, although he would not stop worrying. Tim gave a small sigh, staring into space for a moment before looking back to Jay.

“I’ll be fine, really.”

“You better be.”

The two exchanged a small smile at that, but their moment was interrupted by the door swinging open. They didn’t see Alex, but they could hear him.

“Alright, lovebirds follow me!”

Ignoring the comment they both stood up and walked towards the doorway, Alex quickly grabbed both of them by the wrist and pulled them down the hall. It didn’t take them long to figure out what was happening as they heard the music blasting through the door of UNR’s resident party boys dorm: Seth Wilson.

“Tim, I told you that you needed a party.” Alex grinned, letting go of the two.

“Yeah but tonight? He just got out of the hospi-”

“DUUUUUUUUUUDES!” They were quickly cut off by Seth in the doorway, holding a bottle of vodka in his hand. “What’s up? Come on in!” 

Jay stood there, still awaiting an answer from Alex but he was too enticed by all of the girls and ignored him as he stepped into the apartment. Jay just huffed, turning to Tim. “We don’t have to do this if you’re not feeling up to it.” 

“Jay it’s fine. It’ll be nice to just not think about things for a little bit.” Without thinking Tim lightly grabbed Jay’s hand, he didn’t entirely notice since he was very focused on making sure Tim was okay. But he gave a defeated sigh anyways.

“If you need to leave you’ll tell me right?”

“I will tell you, I promise.” Tim nodded and quickly pulled Jay into the apartment before he could second guess it anymore.

“Alright!!” Seth exclaimed, closing the door behind them before running into the crowd. 

It was a surprising amount of people for a last-minute thing in a relatively small apartment but it seemed like everyone was already getting trashed. Some of them were playing some sort of obscure drinking game that probably wasn’t actually real, and of course, there was a slew of couples making out everywhere. The thing that caught their eye more than anything though was Alex already following after Amy like a sad puppy looking for attention, and Brian was lost somewhere in the crowd. Jay stuck close to Tim as he looked around, being pulled towards the kitchen and that was the moment in which he finally realized that they were holding hands. Tim let go before he could continue to process it though, digging through the stacks of beer and other random alcoholic beverages.

“Want anything?” 

“Uh.. I’ll take a beer, whatever’s over there.” Jay shouted over the music, waiting awkwardly as Tim emerged with a beer and a white claw. He handed Jay his drink and took a swig of his own before motioning for Jay to follow him. The two walked in and past the crowd, landing at an empty couch pushed against the back wall. Just like when they first met. 

They both sat down with a content sigh, taking a few swigs of their drinks as they just people watched from their couch. And everything was peaceful from their end of the party until some idiot (Alex) screamed as loud as he could over the music

“TRUTH OR DARE!!”

They both sighed in unison, looking at each other with a silent agreement of ‘We will stand our ground!’  
But that only lasted so long. 

“TIMMY!” Mother Brian shrieked as he pushed his way through the crowd followed by Sarah, Jessica, Alex, and Amy. “Get your asses up you’re joining us in truth or dare!”

“But.. couch.” Tim looked at Brian with a blank expression.

“Come on just a few rounds! Pleeaaase??” Jessica pouted. “You two didn’t even say hi to us so it’s the least you can do!”

“I’m sorry. Hi Jessica, hi Sarah, hi Amy. There. Problem solved.”

Tim and Jay looked at each other for a moment but the chorus of “Pleaaaseeee?” Just kept growing and growing so they both surrendered. 

“Fine! A few rounds but that’s it.”

The small group around them cheered and once again the two were forced to follow Alex as they joined the circle around the main couch in a game of truth or dare. Like classy college kids. 

“Okay! Can we start now?” Jessica bounced anxiously, watching as her girlfriend silently judged her as she was half a drink in and already tipsy. 

“I’ll start!” Brian bounced, in which Tim mentally braced himself for impact. “Sarah! Truth or dare.”

“Uhh.. truth!”

“How does it... How is... How do... Lesbian?” He was genuinely curious. 

“Well, you see dear Brian when two women love each other very much. They lesbian.” Sarah chuckled, throwing an arm around Jessica. She knew that wasn’t entirely what he meant but decided to give him a hard time. He just blushed, fiddling with the sleeves of his signature yellow hoodie. “Okay uh.. Amy! Truth or dare?”

“...Dare!”

“Alright..” She looked around the room for a moment, eyes landing on the bowl of fruit in the kitchen. She gave a big devious grin and pointed to the bowl. “Amy I dare you to see how far you can deepthroat that banana.” 

“Oh, that’s easy!” She grinned and skipped over to grab it like it was no big deal. 

Alex was the next one to get flustered, cheeks turning red as he watched his dream girl just deepthroat this fucking banana. He hopped over to sit on the couch next to Tim and Jay and whispering to Tim who was closest to him. “Are you seeing this?”

“..Yes?”

“How do you not think this is hot as fuck, Tim?”

“I’m gay, Alex.” 

“You’re no help.” He sighed dramatically, hopping over to consult Brian instead. 

Once Amy was done with her dare, she turned to a face that was unfamiliar to everyone here but she wanted to include him. 

“What’s your name?”

“Jeff.”

“Okay, Jeff! Truth or dare?

The guy shifted nervously, not entirely sure why he was being asked by this random beautiful girl but went with it anyways. “Uhh.. dare.”

“Hmm... I dare you to go streaking for 5 minutes!” She smiled innocently. 

“Aw yeah, field trip!” Alex exclaimed, standing up in which the rest of the circle stood up with him.

They all went downstairs and outside to go watch this guy run bare ass naked around the building for five minutes. All of them huddled together in the slightly chilly evening air. Jay and Tim still stayed close together, in which Jay would give the excuse of ‘Watching him in case he has another seizure.’ But in all reality, he was growing more comfortable around the boy. Might have been the beer talking but, hey. 

Jay shivered a bit, going back and forth between watching the interactions with the crowd and watching Jeff run around screaming. Tim definitely noticed the cold boy and sneakily took off his jacket and draped it over Jay’s shoulders. He immediately jumped a bit, looking back at Tim.

“Sorry… You were shivering.” He muttered.

“Uh no, it’s fine! Thanks. Don’t you need it though?”

“Nah I’m good.” He pointed to his long sleeve shirt, unlike Jay who was in a t-shirt. He nodded and hesitantly slipped his arms into the jacket. It was a little big but it was definitely comfortable, he could see why Tim wore it so often. Once they both turned their attention back to everyone else, Jeff was done with his dare and they all quickly rushed back into the building. Once he was dressed and everyone was done laughing and congratulating this random dude they resumed their circle, sitting where they all were beforehand.

“Okay.. You!” He pointed to Jay. “Hat boy. Truth or dare?”

“Uh.. tr-”

“Come on don’t be pussy, do some shit, you dumb bitch!” Alex butt in. “I know where you live Jay and I will make fun of you.”

“Fine.. dare.” He sighed

He pointed to both Jay and Tim. “You two. Seven minutes in heaven.”

“What- why?”

“Oh come on you two have been all over each other all night, obviously there’s some sort of connection there so do something about it.” 

“I like this guy!” Alex gave a bright smile, nudging Brian who nodded in agreement. 

“No! Fuck that!” 

“Come on Jay let’s just get the dare over with.” Tim sighed, looking over at him. Jay hoped to god Tim had a plan because he sure didn’t. Giving a small nod because he knew with everyone in the room that DID agree with this guy, he wouldn’t be able to change anyone’s mind. 

“Fine.” He stood up with Tim, the two of them slowly walking towards the hall closet. 

“I’m timing you! And I better hear some shit!” 

They both walked in and shut the door, Jay immediately going into panic mode. 

“We’re not actually doing this right?” 

“No. We’ll just make it seem like we are.”

“Okay well, how do we do that?”

“Good question Jay.” He thought for a moment. “Just like.. Bang on the walls and make weird noises.”

“What kind of weird noises?”

“I don’t hear anything!!” Alex exclaimed from outside the door. 

“Fuck! I don’t know just like.. Moan or something.” 

“Okay like..?” Jay gave some sort of weird noise. 

“Good enough.”

The next few minutes were filled with the two of them switching off between fake moaning and banging on the walls until they heard Alex give them a call for two minutes. Tim couldn’t help but chuckle at how ridiculous this entire thing was, inching a little closer to Jay and signaling for him to stop. They both looked at each other for a moment, both of their faces bright red as Tim leaned in a little bit. 

Jay just watched him curiously as he reached up to move his hat and ruffle his hair a bit. “You know, to make it look more real.” Jay just nodded and reached up to do the same, looking at him for a moment before moving down to unbutton the top button of Tim’s shirt. 

“There.”

“Well, you went above and beyond.” Tim chuckled, noticing Jay was still wearing his jacket he pulled one of the sleeves up so they were uneven. 

“Alright you filthy animals, time is up!” 

With a sigh of relief, Tim reached for Jay’s hand with another claim. “You know, to make it look more real.” Jay took his hand, basically clinging to Tim’s side as they emerged back into the area. 

“That’s my boy!” Alex clapped, in which everyone else joined in as well. “Didn’t think you two would actually do it!”

“Yeah. And now we pass the truth or dare baton to you, Alex because we’re done playing.” Tim smirked.

“That’s fair. That’s all I wanted, good call Jeff.”

Jeff gave a corny bow in which there was one more round of applause, but Tim pulled Jay away and into the crowd. 

“We did it!” 

“That we did.” Tim offered for a high five, in which Jay gladly accepted.

“So what now?” Jay bounced, now on some sort of weird adrenaline rush and ready to conquer anything. 

“Well, I think our couch is calling our names.” Tim smiled at the boy's energy, but he needed to chill out for a second after that. 

“Yeah. I think you’re right.”


End file.
